It
was a dark so deep one could believe oneself incorporeal, trapped in
some dreadful limbo. It was also cold. An unfathomable cold capable
of swallowing the heat of the sun. No not just a sun, all the suns
ever created! He was but a wraith in this terrifying place. With all
his being he yearned for escape from this desolation, to feel and
touch light and warmth again. To come upon another living thing, any
living thing! But all he could sense was emptiness. Again he wished
as he had never wished before to be away from this place. But
something kept drawing him ever onwards into the dark, into the
emptiness. It was all consuming and it was hungry, very hungry!
Hopeless like a child he closed his eyes hoping it would all
disappear. But still onwards he was drawn by unseen forces.

Suddenly
he perceived a presence out there in the cold and dark! And his fear
grew even greater, something he had not believed possible. For this
thing was far worse than the emptiness that enveloped him. Ahead of
him now appeared a hole blacker than the darkness, malevolent and
ravenous. The blackness expanded in size filling his vision and with
sudden realisation he saw that it was not a hole, it was a planet
travelling through the emptiness of space. No sun wanted any
association with this wretched place nor did any fellow planets
desire its company. In isolation did this dark world travel through
the desolate regions of space and the world embraced this solitude!

The
world was like the darkest deepest swamp one could imagine, still and
lifeless on the surface, yet underneath a myriad of creatures
slithering and writhing with an insatiable hunger in their never
ending quest to tear each other limb from limb. Pity any creature
foolhardy enough to enter into those dark depths be it accident or on
purpose. A shiver of fear and disgust trickled down his spine. The
creatures that lived on this dark world were the monsters that
haunted people's dreams and they were turning their hungry eyes
towards him. His very marrow turned to jelly at their gaze leaving
him helpless. Again desperately he willed himself away from this
abomination, but still he was drawn on. Whether he be ghost or not
the creatures of this world seemed to sense him and he knew they
waited impatiently to welcome him. No matter how much he struggled to
break free still he was drawn ever closer to this nightmare.

The
planet impossibly large before his eyes had mountains and oceans he
now realised. In some perverted way the place was similar to his own
world. It had deep oceans with many continents and islands and
mountains that reared up into its skies. But all these were immense
in size compared to those of his planet for this world he realised
was many times that of his own. He now also saw that the planet was
not as dark as he had first imagined. Spots of light he spied for the
first time, lights of varying sizes and brightness dotting the world.
Looking closer he could see that some of those patches of light were
from enormous volcanoes vomiting glowing rivers of molten lava.
Whilst others were gigantic storms where lightening flashed and
flickered across the skies as if some titanic battle was taking
place. But strangest of all the lights were those created by the
cities and towns. Which could only mean that there must intelligent
life down there!

So
close now was he that he could clearly see the creatures that lived
upon this world. They were of every shape and great in size.
Leviathans, titans and behemoths were the names that leapt into his
mind, dreaded monsters of ancient times. These creatures like their
world were colossal in size armed with fangs, claws, horns and spikes
that adorned scaled and armoured plated bodies. He watched transfixed
a creature gigantic in size beyond all comparison, its head like that
of some prehistoric crocodile. A forest of needle sharp javelin sized
teeth sprouted from its long jaws, its red scaled body was eel like
in shape from which numerous spider like limbs and fins grotesquely
sprang out. At its end was a long powerful reptilian like tail. With
a roar that shook the mountains the Leviathan, with a flick of its
great tail sent a huge towering wave crashing against the shore where
it smashed against the legs of a Behemoth which roared back in
response. How he knew one a Leviathan and the other a Behemoth he
knew not, he just knew they were! If he had thought the Leviathan
monstrous in size the Behemoth was its match. Black in colour it had
a feline like head with a bull shaped body, four deadly horns
sprouted from its shoulders and two gigantic sabre teeth sprouted
from the roof of its mouth. Its heavily muscled black body was
supported by four sturdy legs each ending in a set of vicious claws,
a thin whip like tail slashing at the air behind it. He watched as
these two monsters challenged each other, one claiming dominion of
the sea, the other the land.

His
attention was now drawn elsewhere, to another creature. It was much
smaller than the two monsters he had just witnessed but still
enormous in size when compared to him. Much like a spider did this
new creature look, each of its eight legs over twenty feet in length
that supported its corpulent grey body and much smaller head. On the
top of its head a thousand unblinking black eyes watched the world
while below its mandibled mouth opened and closed oozing poison. The
spider like creature moved with surprising speed for its size.
Forwards it darted then stopped remaining completely still. Then off
it would dart again in a slightly different direction. On a
zigzagging path went the beast for it was hunting! He watched as the
creature caught up with its quarry. Its victim far smaller, looked
almost human except that its skin gave off a golden glow. The
enormous spider on seeing the human reared back on its hind legs
spraying out what must have been some kind of web from the base of
its abdomen. But the smaller human like creature was far too quick
and easily avoided the sticky threads. The spider warily watched the
smaller creature and started backing away. With sudden insight he
realised that the spider had no intention of attacking this smaller
being. In fact the spider was scared! But if the spider had hoped to
be left alone it was mistaken. The smaller creature shot forwards
like an arrow sword in hand. So fast was its strike that he did not
clearly see what happened. But with a squeal of pain the spider
shrank back one of its limbs now broken and useless. So now it was
the spider who was the hunted one! The battle continued and with each
attack the smaller creature made so another limb of the great spider
would be broken or severed completely, until finally the great spider
remained inert all its limbs broken. The stricken creature now mewled
in fear and pain and he could not help but feel a pang of sympathy
for the creatures plight. He watched as the smaller human like
creature now swaggered up to the defeated spider and
casually plunged its
sword between the defeated creatures many eyes killing it instantly.

He
looked away from the pitiful scene glancing back over this dark
world. It seemed to him that everywhere he looked there was a battle
happening. A battle for food, dominance and power as creature fought
creature in an orgy of blood and death. He knew that even the weakest
of the creatures on this dark planet would be almost invincible if
they were on his home world.

The
planet now thankfully released its hold on him passing him by and
with considerable relief he watched as the world and its inhabitants
flew on into the darkness. As he turned to watch the world pass so a
myriad of multi coloured lights like diamonds lit up the emptiness.
He looked at the lights with confusion then realised that they were
stars, billions of stars and he knew now what he looked at was his
very own galaxy, the Milky Way! Towards this the fast disappearing
planet now sped. His sight was now drawn to where this dark world's
destination and he saw that it was coursing towards a small yellow
star and his heart began to hammer in his chest and a wordless scream
formed in his throat. For he knew that small yellow star was the sun,
his sun! The sun that shone over the world he called home. Worse he
now knew that the creatures of this nightmare world did not look at
him with covetous eyes, no they were looking with hunger at the world
he called home!

Chapter 1 - The
Goddess Of Books

Aiden
awoke with a start wiping the sweat from his face. Looking across at
the alarm clock he gave a groan, it was only 6.30 in the morning and
it was Saturday! He had hoped to have a good lie in today to catch up
on some much needed sleep. Aiden laid his head back against the
pillow squeezing his eyes shut. However as soon as did images of the
demon planet came back to haunt him making him open his eyes once
more. He had been having the same nightmare over the last three weeks
now and this one was the most vivid yet. Aiden was beginning to
wonder if was having some kind of nervous breakdown. Was it something
to do with breaking up with his girl friend he wondered. But then he
had been the one who did the breaking up! Well he had actually just
stopped taking her calls, replying to her texts or answering the
door. Luckily Sally was too proud to actually come round and make a
scene thank God! Anyway Sally quickly got the message and had stopped
trying to contact him. He was fairly sure she was seeing someone else
in any case! But still maybe he should have been a bit stronger, he
should have been straight with Sally and told her to her face why he
was unhappy. Maybe he was having these dreams because he felt guilty
about how he had broken up with her. Aiden shook his head he somehow
doubted Sally was the cause of these dreams. Aiden sat up with a sigh
there was no way he would get back to sleep now. Kicking his legs out
of bed he got up and made his way to the bathroom.

Aiden
rented a small second floor flat in London. It had two bedrooms a
bathroom and a living room / kitchen and it cost a small fortune to
rent. But it was also close to where he worked and the night life was
pretty good. Although he was starting to feel his age more and more
lately. Or was it that the kids going out were getting younger and
younger. These days he seemed to drift towards the quieter bars and
pubs, he was approaching 37 after all and according to some that was
already over the hill. One thought that did cheer Aiden was that it
wasn't so cold in the mornings now spring was here! He switched on
the bathroom light, turned on the cold water tap and splashed the
freezing water on his face stinging him awake with a gasp. Looking in
the mirror he studied his face looking for signs of ageing. But apart
from a few wrinkles around his eyes he looked pretty much how he
always had. A mop of black hair on top of a fairly handsome face, at
least that's what he thought! Dark eyes not bloodshot! A nice smile
so people said and he his body was still lean though he did have the
makings of a paunch. He still looked OK Aiden thought to himself. But
still it wouldn't be long before he was forty and would it be all
downhill after that! He squeezed some paste onto his tooth brush and
started brushing his teeth. With thoughts of age still in his mind
Aiden showered and dressed wandered into the kitchen to make his
first of many cups of tea for the day.

Aiden’s
galley kitchen was pretty basic taking up less than a quarter of the
main room the remainder of which acted as his living room with a
breakfast bar acting as the boundary between the two. The kitchen had
a small sink, a cooker with an oven underneath. There was also a
built in fridge freezer together with a few cabinets on the wall for
plates and tins. As for the living room well most would have guessed
that it belonged to a bachelor for there was very little in the way
of decorations or photos. All there was an old sofa and two worn
chairs between which an old stained coffee table sat. A TV against
the far wall completed the scene. Aiden grabbed the TV remote off the
breakfast bar and turned on the television. He then grabbed his
freshly brewed tea and made his way over to the sofa sitting down. As
usual the TV reception was poor. It had been like that for some time
now and it looked like it was getting worse. Aiden using the remote
flicked the TV straight over to the news channels as there would be
nothing else on at this time in the morning and he lay back against
the sofa.

The
news was the same as usual. Another bomb had exploded in a market
somewhere on the other side of the world killing and injuring dozens
of men women and children. Aiden knew that he should be more shocked
and angry than he was but in truth he, just like most others he
suspected accepted this kind of thing with an emotional detachment.
The TV newscaster then turned her attention to more domestic matters
reporting about yet another gang fight in London which had resulted
in a small 6 year old girl being caught in the crossfire, the little
girl was now critically ill in hospital, the police were still
searching for the culprits. Why did they have to use guns Aiden
thought, and how on Earth did they manage to get guns in the first
place he wondered! The News Readers next story was about reports of
the demonstrations in London last night that had turned violent. She
said that thousands of pounds worth of damage had been done to local
businesses. Both the police and organisers blamed a small minority of
trouble makers for the damage. So it continued it's a wonder how we
keep going as a race Aiden shook his head.

Aiden's
mind switched off from the news his thoughts drifting back to the
strange dream he had been having. He wondered if maybe stress was the
cause. So what was he worried about, was it his job? Although boring
it was at least secure giving him enough money to get by and the guys
at his office were a nice enough bunch. Maybe it was to do with him
being an orphan Aiden thought not for the first time. Was having no
family the cause Aiden wondered? Maybe that was it! Aiden again shook
his head, he had got over that years ago. Besides from what he could
gather from some of his own friends, their families seemed to be more
trouble than they were worth. So he should count himself lucky!

Aiden
noticed his laptop on the coffee table and decided a search the
internet might find some clues about his strange dream. His first
search quite surprisingly revealed that a lot of other people had
been having the same dream as him, a dream about a large planet.
Looking up what they said he found the usual odd ball views about
aliens and secret government experiments that caused these dreams.
But as he kept searching he found that there was a common thread.
Many people said that this dream was about a planet that actually
existed, planet X. They said it was some sort of brown dwarf whatever
that meant! And that this planet orbited the solar system every
thousand years or more. Curiosity getting the better of him he looked
up this planet X and discovered that the Sumerians the oldest known
civilisation on Earth supposedly knew of it. Aiden then did a search
on ‘Planet X and the Sumerians’ and saw page after page of
results. The Sumerians called this planet Nibiru, according to
translations they believed that this planet passed by the earth every
3600 years and it was inhabited by a race of beings called the
Anunnaki. These beings were far more advanced than mankind and
according to the Sumerians these Anunnaki needed the gold which was
on Earth. The Sumerians texts also went on to say that the return of
Nibiru or Planet X would spell the end of the world and the start of
a new age. As Aiden continued searching he found that the Babylonians
had similar legends but they called the planet Marduk and it seemed
there were many other old civilizations and cultures that believed in
this mysterious planet as well. Having nothing better to do that day
and his curiosity piqued Aiden decided he would pay a visit to the
library to see what more he could find out.

It
was midday by the time Aiden got to the library where he found
himself gazing at row upon row of books about ancient cultures and
civilisations. He then found a sub section on ancient myths and
religions and started looking randomly at some of the books on
display. The books covered a whole range of topics from American
Indian beliefs to Mayan Legends, with of course plenty on Greek
mythology. Aiden suddenly felt as if he were being watched and
looking up was surprised to see a beautiful women staring at him
intently. She looked like she had stepped straight out of mount
Olympus with a classical face that was beautiful yet strong, a
straight nose, perfect mouth and deep green eyes that seemed to
swallow him body and soul. Her golden hair was fastened tightly in a
bun which gave her a bit of a school teacher look but she was still
beautiful even with that! She looked like one of those classical
Greek statues come to life.

‘Hello’
the goddess said smiling, ‘can I help you at all?’

‘Errrrrm...
Just after something on ancient myths I guess’ Aiden stuttered
feeling himself blush.

‘Well
that’s a big area is there anything more specific you are after?’
the goddess asked smiling once more at him.

‘Well
errr, well I am looking for information on errr, well it’s some
kind of lost planet sort of thing’ Aiden stuttered.

‘Lost
planet?’ the woman replied raising an eyebrow

‘Errrm’
Aiden could feel himself getting even redder ‘Well yes its some
kind of myth about a planet that orbits the sun every 3000 years or
something like that’ Aiden shrugged his shoulders trying to act as
if it was not really that important. He really did not want to make
himself look stupid in front of this woman. ‘Something to do with
the Sumerians I think, planet X they call it!’ he added quickly.

‘Ah
yes the Sumerians one of the first human civilizations. I believe
that the planet you are talking about was referred to by them as
Nibiru.’

‘Yes
Nibiru, that’s the planet!’ Aiden agreed.

‘There
are a lot of tales about that planet, hmm let me see’ the woman ran
a finger along one of the book shelves until it came to a stop at a
particular book. She pulled the book out taking a look at its cover
and nodded her head in approval. ‘Yes this will give you all the
information you need on that subject’ she said about to offer the
book to Aiden then paused and thought for a moment. ‘You know that
there are a lot of myths that surround this planet, did you know a
lot of people say that it actually exists and that it will come back
one day?’

‘Well
yes I kind of read some stuff on that, total rubbish of course!’
Aiden said to show that he was a normal wholesome type of guy, not in
the slightest mad.

‘Yes
quite’ replied the woman looking once more at Aiden as if gazing
into his soul. ‘Well’ she said after a pause seeming to decide to
let Aiden in on a secret. ‘There is a meeting tomorrow night that
is about all these myths and ancient civilisations and I am sure they
will be talking about this planet of yours, would you be interested
in going to it?’

‘Errrr
sure yes, why not’ Aiden replied not knowing what else to say.

With
that the goddess took out a pen and business card from her jacket
pocket and quickly wrote an address on the back of the card. ‘It’s
at this address tomorrow evening at 7.00pm. here you are’ and she
handed the book with card to Aiden. My name is Aya by the way, maybe
I will bump into you at the meeting’ and with a parting smile she
turned and left.

‘I’m
Aiden’ he said to her back wishing he had something better to say
like, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever set eyes on how
about diner! Aiden looked at the card, it read Aya Smith and had a
telephone number below it nothing else. On the reverse side of the
card in neat hand writing she had written;

Aiden
slipped the card into his pocket and took a look at the book that she
had given him. It was a heavy reference book titled Ancient World
Myths and Legends written by some professor of history who had both
studied and taught at some of the top universities in America. So
Aiden assumed that the author must be trustworthy. Finding a seat at
a nearby table Aiden sat down. He took a quick look around the
library and was disappointed to see that Aya was nowhere to be seen.
Aiden then opened the book he had been given and started reading and
pretty soon was engrossed in the translations of ancient texts and
their possible meanings. What fascinated Aiden even more than the
translations were the pictures in the book of wall engravings that
seemed to depict things that the ancient humans could not possibly
have known about. Like space rockets, light bulbs and even wrist
watches. Even though the author was at pains to point out that it all
could be just fluke or coincidence.

But
most interesting of all was the translations of the Sumerians where
there was a whole chapter on Nibiru and the Anunnaki. Aiden
discovered that the Sumerians believed that the Anunnaki were Gods
and Goddesses who came to Earth and created humans. These Gods were
both good and bad and one even tried to wipe out humans in a great
flood. It went on to say that these Gods came from a planet called
Nibiru. So engrossed was Aiden that by the time he had finished with
the book it was already late afternoon. He got up and put the book
back where it came from. He took another look around for Aya as he
had assumed that she must work there. Not seeing her anywhere he
walked over to reception where he asked after her and was surprised
to find out that they did not know who she was, well at least he had
her phone number Aiden thought.

Chapter 2 -
Predictions

Aiden
quietly slipped into the hall at the Kentish Town Community Centre
where row upon row of neatly arranged chairs had been placed facing a
stage on which a podium stood. There were enough seats for a hundred
people with many of the places already occupied. Aiden still
uncertain about coming to a meeting like this took a seat at the
very back of the hall trying to remain inconspicuous. The majority of
the people looked exactly as Aiden had thought they would eternal
students dressed in jeans and cardigans. Aiden straight away felt out
of place, like a meat eater at a vegan feast. However as he looked
again at the audience he saw that some of them looked, well normal.
There was a well dressed elderly couple a few rows in front of him
with what he assumed was their daughter and over on the other side of
them there were three Chinese people about his own age sitting
quietly together. As Aiden looked more closely at the people gathered
around he could see that there were a lot of what he would have
assumed were perfectly normal looking people in the hall. In truth
Aiden had to admit to himself that most of the audience looked like a
typical cross section of people you would find in London on any day
of the week. One man sitting towards the front was even dressed in a
designer suit and looked for the world as if he was Rockefeller.
Aiden now feeling a lot better about being at the meeting tried to
see if he could see Aya but she was nowhere to be seen. Aiden glanced
over to his right as a slim built man with a narrow hawkish face and
neatly cut black hair took a seat on the same row as him just as the
hall suddenly went quiet. Aiden looked up at the stage where to his
surprise he saw Aya approaching the podium.

She
wore a smart black jacket and skirt, her golden hair still in a bun.
She now looked more like some high flying business executive for a
blue chip company than a librarian.
Aya looked around at her audience with a smile, her eyes resting
briefly on Aiden giving him a small nod that pleased him immensely.

‘Thank
you all for coming, it’s good to see some familiar faces, and some
new ones!’ Aya smiled once more addressing her audience. ‘For
those of you who do not know me my name is Aya Smith and I am a
founder member of the Ancient Civilisations Society. Our aim is to
study the texts of our early civilisations in order to learn how they
lived and see what meanings and conclusions we can draw from them
regarding our modern society’ She paused looking about the hall.
‘For tonight’s meeting we will be discussing some of the biggest,
some might say most contentious of topics. Of course what I am
talking about are the myths and legends concerning the destruction
and salvation of humans and their similarities across the world. Take
for instance the story of the great flood which in Christianity is
commonly referred to as Noah and the Ark. This same story is also
mentioned in other modern day religions such as Islam, Judaism, and
Hinduism. If we also look at other now long dead civilisations such
as the Sumerians and the Babylonians, here we also find references to
a great flood that deluged the world. So the question we are asking
tonight is why so many different cultures and religions that have
originated in diverse locations around the world. Why would all these
religions have created and recorded what seems to be the same myth?
Now I would like to welcome Gagan who will talk about this mysterious
great flood. Gagan for those of you who do not know has specialised
in Ancient History and has a doctorate in Ancient Languages as well
as one in Astrophysics. So please let us give a welcome for Gagan’
Aya smiled and looked at someone at the front of the audience.

Gagan
a slim young Indian man with a serious face got up from the front row
clutching a small wad of papers and made his way to the podium to a
polite round of applause.

‘Thank
you’ Gagan said when the clapping had stopped. ‘As Aya said I am
a scholar of our ancient history. The flood event is something of
particular interest to me because as Aya just said it is so widely
mentioned in the texts of many various and geographically diverse
civilisations’ Gagan said with an accent that sounded as if he had
been educated at Eaton. ‘So what do these texts tell us about this
flood? Well if we look at the Sumerian myth first, which was written
in the 18 century BC. It tells the story of their gods, Anu their god
of the life, Enki their God of water and Enlil their God of sky.
According to the Sumerian’s these gods came to Earth and assigned
junior gods called Dingers to work the land, doing farm labour and
maintaining canals. But the Dingers after 40 years rebel and refuse
to do any more work. However they were saved from punishment by the
God Enki who suggested that they create man who would do all the work
for them. So Enki got their mother goddess Mami to create man which
she did using clay and the flesh and blood of the other Gods. Which
again by the way has similarities in the book of Genesis where God
makes man from clay. So the Goddess Mami creates a womb made from
clay in which the first man is created and after nine months the womb
breaks open and man is born and so man now begins to do the work of
the Dingers.

However it seems
that man begins to over populate the earth and the God Enlil in an
attempt to reduce man’s numbers sends droughts and famines. But
Enki who had first thought of creating man and because he loved his
creation did his best to help mankind through these disasters.
Finally however the God Enlil decides to destroy mankind with a flood
and Enki is bound by oath to keep this a secret from man. But the
God Enki breaks his oath and he warns a man called Atrahasis about
the coming flood and tells him to build a boat with a roof with upper
and lower decks that should be sealed in bitumen. Atrahasis builds
the boat as he was commanded. He then boards the boat together with
his family and his animals and seals the door. Then there is a great
storm and flood that lasts for seven days and nights that terrifies
even the Gods themselves and the flood, as Enlil intended does indeed
destroy all of mankind. Except of course for Atrahasis and his
family’ Gagan paused and looked at his audience. ‘I am sure you
can all see the similarities in this story and that of Noah and the
Ark. The Babylonians also have a similar account of a great flood
that kills all of man but again some people and animals are saved by
the building of a boat.’ Gagan said looking at his notes.

‘According
to Hindu texts that were written 5th
or
6th
century BC but are said to record an oral record that goes back
100,000 years, they too also talk about a great flood. This time the
hero of the Hindu tale is called Manu who again is instructed to
build a boat but this time it is a fish from the sea who warns him
that a great flood is coming. Manu does as he is told and again he is
saved while the rest of mankind is destroyed. Coincidentally after
this flood a moral code of conduct and living was drawn up by the
Indians which lead to the creation of the Indian civilization and its
divisions in society as represented by its caste system.’

Gagan
paused looking at his notes. ‘So you see we have similarities in
the Hindu myth where Manu is saved by a fish from the sea and the
Sumerian myth who say it was their God of the water that saves
Atrahasis. In both tales the hero of the story is told to build a
boat to save himself, his family and his animals. Again this is not
dissimilar to Noah and the Ark where Noah builds an Ark as instructed
by God within which Noah, his family and all the animals are saved.
So my question is, are these myths and stories just coincidence, did
one culture simply copy the story from the other and so on, or is
there some basis of truth in the story? Bear in mind that the Hindu
and Sumerian civilisations were centred on two different continents!
So would they have even known about each other at the dawn of history
let alone exchange myths. Also if we look further around the world we
soon find that most civilisations on every continent of the world
have similar stories relating to a great flood that destroys mankind.
So this story of a devastating flood that destroys humanity, or most
of humanity at any rate! Seems to have been experienced by most of
mankind, according to their myths at least. Now if such an event like
this actually did happen then surely it should come as no surprise to
anyone that it would have affected all the human communities around
the world. Who in turn would have passed down the story through the
generations’ Gagan looked at his notes once more.

‘But
still all we have are stories or myths and the scientist in us all
need more than just stories, we need evidence, so where is the
evidence?’ Gagan paused looking around the hall. ‘The main
problem with the evidence is that not only would it by now be tens of
thousands of years old, possibly even hundreds of thousands of years
old! But it would no doubt also be under several hundred feet of sea
and ocean which would make finding hard evidence difficult to say the
least. But luckily for us over the past few years and due to
technological advances we have seen a rapid growth in marine
archaeology’ Gagan said looking at his notes again. 'And
discoveries have already been made of lost cities and civilisations
hidden beneath our oceans. For instance, off the cost of India and in
the Black Sea they have discovered the remains of large cities and
towns which seem to date back to many thousands of years in our past.
There are more discoveries being made off the coast of Japan and
elsewhere around the world of civilisations that pre-date the
Sumerians. So here at last we now have solid evidence that a portion
of our ancient world was swallowed by the sea. But was it due to a
flood? For me this evidence combined with the written records from
the past that we have translated convince me that yes, there was a
once a great flood that caused immense destruction and death for our
ancestors and the memory of this great disaster was passed down
through the ages by various communities all over the world. ‘

Aiden
listened as Gagan continued his talk on the great flood and then
answered a few questions. The main one being what could have caused
such a disaster. Gagan hypothesised that it could have been connected
to the ending of the last ice age but that no one could be certain at
the present time. Gagan then finally finished to a polite round of
applause and Aya once more took to the podium.

‘Thank
you Gagan’ Aya said ‘that was very instructive. Now I would like
to talk about another constant theme that seems to run in all our
religions both past and present. Much the same way as Gagan talked
about the similarities around the world about the great flood there
is also another common theme that these varied cultures and faiths
all have in common, which is they all have predictions regarding the
end of the world. This is a recurring theme in all our current
religions as well as those that no longer exist. Let me start with
Christianity and what is written in the bible. I will read a few of
the verses that relate to the end of the world as the gospels see
it.’ Aya looked at her notes briefly. ‘This verse is from Luke
21:11 which says;

“And
great earthquakes shall be in diverse places. And famines, and
pestilence: and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven” Aya read out.

‘And
this is from Mathew;

“Immediately
after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the
moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and
the heavenly bodies will be shaken.At that time the sign of the
Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth
will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the
sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with
a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four
winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” Aya paused and
looked up.

‘But
I don’t have the time to read all the verses relating to this
subject, in brief the bible says that there will be a false Christ or
Anti Christ, which will lead man astray. That there will be war and
revolutions that consume mankind. That there will be earthquakes,
famine, plague and pestilence and other fearful events. That there
will be signs from heaven about the coming of Christ. That there will
be a persecution of believers by the authorities and that those same
believers will be betrayed by those closest to them. That Jerusalem
will be surrounded and the Jews will fall and be dispersed and that
there will be further signs from the Sun the moon and stars. Finally
there will be a last battle where the real Christ will defeat the
anti Christ and so will it then lead to the end of the world.

‘Pretty
grim stuff’ Aya said with a grimace and the audience laughed. ‘If
we look at the Koran it also says much the same thing as the bible
regarding the end of the world as does the Torah of the Jewish faith.
However it is not surprising that these three religions have similar
accounts for how the world will end as the history of all three
religions are very much entwined with each other’ Aya paused.

‘But what do the
other religions believe? Well if we look at the Buddhists, they
believe in a never ending cycle of death and rebirth and apply the
same belief to the world as a whole. They believe that the ‘Ten
moral courses of conduct’ will disappear and that man will follow
the ‘Ten amoral courses of conduct’ which are’ Aya now read
from her notes, ‘evil speaking, lying, violence, murder, theft,
wanton greed, abusive and idle talk, covetousness and ill will,
adultery and perverted lust’ she read out and looked at the
audience once more. ‘According to the Buddhists when this happens,
when man follows these amoral courses, it will result in poverty for
all mankind and the end of the laws that govern us and so onto the
end of the world’ Aya paused again looking at her notes. ‘The
Hindus have similar theme to this in that they believe the end of the
world will coincide with the corruption of man and that there would
be a rebirth of the world afterwards.’ Aya paused.

‘These
are just a few of our modern day religions and their views about the
end of the world, but what about the beliefs of those civilisations
of the past. Let us take a look at the Sumerians who we so far
believe was mankind’s first civilisation. It was the Sumerians that
created the first written language and also knew about mathematics
and astronomy. The Sumerian culture in turn had a great bearing on
the Babylonians who in turn had a bearing on the Egyptians, the
Greeks and then the Romans. I say this because if you look at the
various Gods and myths of all these cultures you will find that there
are remarkable similarities between them all. But as I said let us
concentrate on the Sumerians who were the first civilization and look
at what they believed. As I mentioned we have learnt that the
Sumerians were far more advanced than we had previously thought.
Their grasp of astronomy was a thousand years ahead of its time for
they had already been able to identify the planets of our solar
system something that we thought only happened in the middle ages.
But instead of nine planets the Sumerians said there were ten planets
and this tenth planet they called Nibiru.

I
would just like to take some time to talk about this planet Nibiru as
it was central to their culture as well as their beliefs about the
end of the world. According to the Sumerians this planet Nibiru only
orbited the sun once every 3600 years, although I believe that this
figure is a mistranslation. The Sumerians said that this planet was
home to a race of super beings called the Anunnaki, who they say
came to earth in search of Gold for use on their home world. But the
Anunnaki soon grew tired of their labours and decided to use humans
to do their work for them and in exchange the Anunnaki taught man new
technologies that allowed them to create the first civilisations. But
it seems that humans prospered too much and the Anunnaki decided to
destroy mankind in a great flood. As Gagan told us about earlier. But
the humans survived this flood and grew anew. The Sumerians then go
onto say that the next destruction of humans will occur when Nibiru
next passes our solar system when there will be great earthquakes and
floods and the return of the Anunnaki. So again we have an end of the
world scenario involving earthquakes, disaster and floods, this time
with an alien race called the Anunnaki coming to Earth.’ Aya
paused once more taking a look at her notes. ‘So I hope you can
see that there seem to be common thread concerning the destruction of
Earth that run through all our past and present religions and
cultures, but what does this all tell us?’

So
the evening continued and Aiden listened with interest as Aya talked
about the varied myths and legends that were connected to the end of
the world and how these same themes seemed to come up over and over
again she even used slides to confirm her points. As Aiden listened
try as he might he could not dismiss what Aya was saying as being
just conspiracy theories. It seemed to him she was simply stating
facts and was being completely impartial in the telling of them to
her audience. She was also extremely beautiful and Aiden would have
in all probability believed anything that she said!

Aya
after taking the final question thanked everyone for turning up and
politely accepted a round of applause. Aiden was deciding whether to
leave or try and talk with Aya when she looked directly at him and
gestured for him to wait. Aiden as requested waited patiently at the
back of the hall as Aya talked with some of the people who had
remained behind. Currently she was engrossed in conversation with the
business man that Aiden had seen earlier near the front. The guy was
taller than Aiden and with immaculately cut blonde hair. He looked to
Aiden like he could have been German soldier straight out of one of
those old World War II movies. He’d make a great SS officer Aiden
thought with some jealousy starting to resent the way the man was
monopolising Aya. Looking around the hall Aiden could see that quite
a few people had remained behind all of whom were now in earnest
conversations. No doubt talking about the great flood and the end of
the world! As for Aiden he was still not completely convinced. He had
no doubt that what Aya and Gagan had said were based on fact. But
there were always a thousand and one ways to interpret anything.
Finally the blond haired businessman shook Aya‘s hand and strode
away purposefully. Aya looked over at Aiden giving him a quick smile
and began making her way over to him stopping to say hello or thank
you to a few more people along the way until she finally got to where
he was standing

‘I’m
glad you could make it, I hope you got something out of it?’ Aya
said with a smile.

‘Yes
it was very informative. But... I mean do you really believe in all
that... that end of the world stuff?’ Aiden replied with a frown.

‘Let
me ask you this first’ she replied regarding him thoughtfully, ‘why
are you so interested in the planet Nibiru?’

‘Well’
Aiden hesitated ‘it’s silly really’ Aiden paused again
wondering if he should tell her about his dreams. But there was
something about this woman that made him want to tell her. ‘It
really is silly! But I have been having these strange dreams about
this planet that is heading towards us, so..’ Aiden shrugged ‘see
it really is silly!’

‘Not
at all’ Aya shook her head in disagreement, ‘many schools of
thought say that dreams are a sub conscious means of showing us
things that are normally hidden. The shamans and mystics throughout
the ages would induce a state of semi consciousness using drugs in
order to dream and so make their predictions. So dreams are never
silly! I would like to hear about this dream of yours.’ Aya stopped
looking back at the remaining people in the hall. ‘Look I have to
talk to some of the people here. A few of us are going for a quick
drink in the pub across the road why don’t you come along and you
can tell me all about this dream of yours.’

‘Well
err sure’ Aiden replied trying to work out if she was actually
asking him out.

‘Good
I’ll see you over there in 10 minutes, in the saloon bar OK’ Aya
smiled.

‘OK’
Aiden nodded with a grin and Aya turned back to talk with some of the
other people who still remained in the hall.

Chapter 3 - An
Invitation

A
short while later Aiden was standing in the saloon bar of the pub
across the road nursing a pint of beer with thoughts of Aya tumbling
through his mind. Did she actually like him, was this whole evening
her way of asking him out! No don’t be silly Aiden thought to
himself, she’s just interested in his dream. But that smile she
gave, maybe she did like him! Aiden looked around the bar and
recognised some of the people who had been at the meeting earlier
sitting at a long table at the back of the room. Apart from them
there were just a handful of people scattered about the place all
deep in their own thoughts and conversations. Taking a sip of his
drink Aiden told himself to stop thinking like a kid about Aya just
as she entered the bar and on seeing Aiden walked over to him.

‘Hi
again’ she said smiling.

‘Hi,
can I get you a drink’ Aiden replied reaching for his wallet.

‘No
thank you, I should already have one. Come with me I’ll introduce
you to the others’ she said quickly guiding him over to the group
of people at the long table before Aiden had any chance to object.

‘I’d
like you all to meet Aiden‘ Aya said introducing him to a dozen
people seated around the table. ‘This is Long and his sisters Li
and Hoshi’, Aya said pointing to the three Chinese people Aiden had
seen in the hall earlier who nodded politely at him. Long and Li were
twins with the same style short cut straight black hair. Hoshi on the
other hand had long black hair and a pretty face her features being
much more delicate than those of the twins.

‘And
this is Dimitri and Oleska and their daughter Ela’ Aya introduced
the smartly dressed elderly couple and their daughter that Aiden had
seen earlier. Denitri was a stocky man with a neatly groomed head of
grey hair and a moustache that sat on a well worn friendly face.
Dimitri gave Aiden a grin. Oleska and Ella were both slim women with
thin serious looking faces the only difference being that Ela had
shoulder length pure black hair where as her mother's hair had
streaks of grey in it.

‘This
is Bridget and Elden’, Aya nodded towards a homely looking woman
with curly red hair and a round rosy face and who sat next to a fair
haired man that looked as if he was used to being outdoors, both of
whom now nodded to Aiden.

‘And
this is Faith and Aaron’ Aya continued, Faith was a small woman
with blonde hair cut short into a bob and Aaron was a large West
Indian man who dwarfed his small wife but who also had a friendly
face.

‘And
finally Seth and of course Gagan’ Aya said finishing the
introductions. Seth was a ginger haired man about Aidens age who had
blues eyes and a square jaw that was covered with a beard. Gagan as
Aiden had already seen was a slim brown skinned man with intelligent
black eyes and an unruly head of black hair that made him look like
some kind of mad professor. They all said hello to Aiden who took the
empty seat next to Aya.

‘Here’s
your drink Aya’ Seth said passing her a glass of wine.

‘Thanks’
Aya said affectionately squeezing his arm which did not go unnoticed
by Aiden who figured that Seth must be her boyfriend. So bang went
his ideas that she might like him!

‘So
you have found out where it is?’ Demitri said without preamble. He
had a heavy East European accent and was smartly dressed in a white
shirt, red tie and a brown blazer. From his grey hair Aiden guessed
he must have been in his sixties but he still looked fit for his age.

‘Yes
I completed the translation yesterday the location seems to be
genuine’ Aya answered with a smile.

‘Oh
but that is wonderful news’ The woman called Bridget said with a
soft Irish accent.

‘So
where is it exactly!’ Gagan asked excitedly, in an accent straight
from the playing field of Eaton.

‘Yes
where is it’ the others demanded hurriedly

‘Well
give her a chance’ Aaron rumbled with a laugh. Aaron was possibly
one of the largest West Indians that Aiden had ever met his arms
looked the same size as Aiden‘s legs. But he also had a ready smile
that immediately put Aiden at ease.

‘Thank
you Aaron’ Aya said in the resulting silence ‘according to the
translation it is somewhere in the mountains of Jordan’

‘Jordan!
Not Iraq, well I never, but we should make ready and set off as soon
as possible’ Gagan said not pausing for breath.

‘You
cannot be serious’ Faith scoffed from beside Aaron a petite woman
made smaller by the enormous size of Aaron sitting next to her. She
had a somewhat pinched face with fiery black eyes and did not look at
all pleased. ‘I have been listening to all these predictions and
sanctuary nonsense for far too long now. None of you has a shred of
evidence to back any of this up!’

‘Now
now Faith’ Aaron said gently enclosing her small hand in his
massive paw trying to calm her down. However some of the other
members around the table where nodding their heads in agreement.

‘Olesaka you agree
with me don’t you, as a hobby this is all fine but they are getting
far too carried away with all of this!’ Faith continued undeterred.

‘I
simply want to see if this place exists; if it does it will be the
find of the centaury!’ Gagan shot back at Faith angrily.

‘Well
I wish you luck on your silly goose chase then’ Faith retorted.

‘Come
on Faith don’t be like that no one is doing anything as yet’ Seth
said trying to calm things down and giving Gagan a warning look not
to reply.

‘But
I must agree with Faith’ Olesaka said with a thick European accent
similar to that of her husband. ‘I really do this for the sake of
my Demi here and I know my Demi, as lovely as he is, can get a bit
carried away sometimes.’

‘Now
my sweet but you also know that sometimes I am right no!’ Demitri
said kissing his wife’s hand and giving her his best boyish smile.
‘Aiden what is your story are you a believer like me or a doubter
like my wife?’ Demitri continued diplomatically changing the
subject.

Well
I errr I don’t know’ Aiden replied completely out of his depth.

‘Aiden
has been having some strange dreams’ Aya said much to Aidens shock
and embarrassment.

‘Dreams
what dreams are these Aiden’ Demitri asked with raised eyebrows.